tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-494160638739613756.post5725867912038885274..comments2024-03-18T03:16:47.773-04:00Comments on Not Just Movies: VertigoJakehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09078001374402400232noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-494160638739613756.post-38183157331324582122010-04-14T08:07:37.577-04:002010-04-14T08:07:37.577-04:00That's certainly a possible reading, though I ...That's certainly a possible reading, though I don't know if I'd entirely buy it, given the transparency with which Hitch reveals the rest of the material. What I find so interesting about Vertigo (and Notorious) is that Hitch gets us to sympathize with a lot of incredibly bad people even as he himself plays crueler and crueler tricks on us. Those two may be his most merciless films (with The Wrong Man rounding out the trifecta), yet they're also, manipulation and all, his most affecting.Jakehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09078001374402400232noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-494160638739613756.post-26218171182330167492010-04-14T07:52:46.542-04:002010-04-14T07:52:46.542-04:00Jake: I'd been saving this for when I had time...Jake: I'd been saving this for when I had time. Good read. Yeah, <i>Vertigo</i> is a mystery, but not in the way that those AFI lists would appreciate. After the initial mysterious hook, the second mystery isn't "what happened?" but something more like "What's wrong with Scottie?" We watch and wonder how much of his delusion is willing. Is he fucking with Judy, playing along, or does he really not get it? This is significant, of course, because it alters our view of Scottie. If he's sick, yes, he's sympathetic. If he's being just as manipulative of Judy as she was of him, well, he's kind of an asshole.<br /><br />My partner in crime Ed Howard considers the option that everything after we see Scottie sent off to the asylum is some kind of dream sequence, a hallucination. I don't think that was Hitchcock's intent, but that reading is definitely there to be made.<br /><br />Again, nice job.Jason Bellamyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18150199580478147196noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-494160638739613756.post-24608357704173232712010-04-10T14:09:42.639-04:002010-04-10T14:09:42.639-04:00Coincidentally, I had just finished reading a Brit...Coincidentally, I had just finished reading a British Film Institute analysis of this film and re-watching the movie when I noticed your wonderful analysis here.<br /><br />This is an amazing film - as near to perfect as a film can get. Its use of color and lighting and surrealistic imagery is masterful. It makes the best use of San Francisco and Bay Area locations of any film. In many ways this film is about San Francisco. It's great how the restored version accentuates the background noises of traffic. <br /><br />I am as obsessed with this film as Scottie is with Madeleine. Perhaps Hitch was also trying to stimulate a lust and longing for the power of the cinematic image along with telling this story of epic longing and lust. This movie has a dream-like quality - from its imagery and from its themes - that is indelible in one's memory.<br /><br />I love your reference to "I was cured, alright." Right. Scottie is cured in a hard way - of his acrophobia. But one possibility is that he takes a step further and jumps after her. In reading analysis of this movie and seeing it again, it really struck me how the whole Madeleine masquerade does a very powerful psychological number on Scottie's brain. It's a very powerful thing! His lust for Madeleine is toyed with twice - only to be disappointed twice.Richard Bellamyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12397053921647421425noreply@blogger.com